Seducing Stag Read online

“I’m not an android.”

  She stopped moving, staring at him. “You’re a cyborg. Sorry. Do you differentiate yourself from them? I heard you were programmed with some mimicked emotions. I didn’t mean to insult you. Don’t get your circuits overloaded. I’m just having a shit day and I’m ready for it to be over. My father is dead and so is my crew. It’s also irritating that something that looks like you is standing in my bedroom under these dire circumstances. Talk about irony.”

  “Explain.”

  “I’m naked and restrained, you’re like sex on legs, though you don’t have the right equipment or the programming to touch me. Plus, the whole big boom if you climb on the bed to reach me. See where this is heading? I’m fucked but not in the fun way.”

  His temper flared more. She’d buy him to have sex with her and she didn’t believe he was a sentient being. It proved his point that all Earthers were the same. He watched her struggle in the restraints, her hair shifting to reveal her nipples. She did have a beautiful body. The blood marring her skin didn’t appear to be hers.

  “Do you need orders to go?” She looked at him. “Go. Take the cargo if you can use it somehow. You can’t save me, if you have some program that tells you to try. Disregard it. Get off the ship and blow it to hell.”

  He suddenly didn’t want her to die. He wanted to keep her alive. He stared at the bed. “How did they rig the bomb?”

  “What?”

  “How did they rig it? You said you saw them do it.”

  “They pulled the covers off the top and cut into the mattress. It’s too complicated for you. You’re an old model. Just go. That’s an order.”

  He approached the bed and pulled back the covers, making certain they remained on top of the mattress. He saw where they’d opened the mattress, the devise exposed to his view.

  “Listen,” she demanded. “Back away from the bed. You’re going to blow us both up and those dickhead skin android things are going to get the cargo. Fuck that. They killed me and my crew. I’m already toast. Get off the ship and blow it!”

  He leaned forward, studying the device. It was complicated. He removed his com and contacted Veller. “Return to the captain’s quarters now.”

  “Hey, gorgeous face?”

  He looked up at her, infuriated. “My name is Stag.”

  “Abort your rescue mission. It’s doomed to fail. Do you understand? I’m giving you a direct order. I know they discontinued your models because there was some kind of problem with you guys taking orders, but you have to be smart. You escaped Earth before they shut all your models down. Leave this ship before the bed blows. Do you understand?”

  He glared at her.

  She glared back. “Abort. Stop. What word triggers you to do what you’re told?”

  “Say ‘please’.”

  That response seemed to surprise her but she recovered fast. “Please take orders. Get off this ship and blow it up.”

  He gave her a cold stare. “I’m not a robot or an android.”

  “I don’t care what the hell you are. You want reasoning and logic? I know my androids appreciate that. There’s no way to get me off these posts without blowing a big hole into the side of the ship. It will decompress this entire section and suck everything into space. Those fucked-up flesh bot things will return and take my cargo. They win! I don’t want that. I want them to return to find out they did all this for nothing! Do you get that?”

  “I do. I fully plan to make certain they return to nothing.”

  “Good. Go.”

  Veller entered the room. “What is it?”

  He stepped out of the way. “Look at this. Can you disarm it?”

  Veller came forward, bent, careful not to touch the bed. “I know this.”

  “Good. Can you disarm it?”

  “No, but Hellion can.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “It’s fully contained. There’s no way to open the casing without triggering it to explode. I should have thought of this. It requires a signal hack to shut it down. It’s the perfect device for a Markus Model to use.”

  Stag connected with his ship. “Send Hellion now.”

  It took a few minutes. The burly cyborg entered and came to a dead stop, openly gawking at the woman. “Dreams really do come true. I am definitely up for this mission.”

  “Shut up,” Stag snapped, imagining where the male’s thoughts had gone. “The bed is rigged with an explosive device.”

  “It’s a reguletta 643AB9,” Veller informed him. “You have much better hacking skills than I do with devices like these. Can you shut it off?”

  Hellion kept staring at the woman.

  “Do it,” Stag growled. “Stop staring at her.”

  “I’m working and appreciating the view,” Hellion muttered. “I can multitask.” A slight hum sounded. Hellion grinned. “It’s off. Can I cut her down?”

  Stag holstered his weapon and grabbed the blade strapped to his outer thigh. He gripped the post and lifted his leg, stepping up onto the bed. He got right in front of the woman, looking down at her. “What’s your name?”

  “Captain Nala Vestria.”

  He bent, slashing at the binds at her ankles. Her legs immediately dropped together. He threw her over his shoulder. She didn’t weigh much. He turned, holding her in place as he jumped off the bed. She gasped.

  He snagged the bedding off the mattress and tossed it over the top of her. Veller and Hellion stared at him.

  Stag pointed to the door. “Finish transferring what cargo you can onto our ship. I’ve got her.”

  “I’d be more than happy to carry her.” Hellion held out his arms. “I know you don’t like Earthers.”

  “Put me down!” the woman demanded. She wiggled against his shoulder. “I can walk.”

  He reached up and placed a hand on her lower back, pinning her to his shoulder, hooking his other arm tighter around her legs. The blanket covered her lower body. “You weren’t here when she said she’d buy me if I’d been in an ad for sex bots.”

  Hellion’s arms dropped and his mouth parted, shock slackening his features. Veller arched both eyebrows but masked his reaction otherwise.

  “I saved her life, so she owes me. My price is, she’s going to know what it feels like to be treated like an android. I won’t harm her—but I will teach her a lesson. Follow my orders.” He strode forward, carrying the woman out of the room.

  “I technically saved her,” Hellion called out. “I want to be her sex bot.”

  “Over my dead body.” Stag kept going.

  Chapter Two

  Nala struggled but the big bastard was strong and fast. It didn’t help that her skin was slick from the cleansing unit he’d shoved her into. He blocked her route to the door, grabbed the clothes he’d slung over his shoulder and offered them to her.

  She identified each piece. He must have ordered one of his men to collect some of her things from her ship. She took the pants and shirt, quickly putting them on.

  “You’re confined to quarters. I’ve blocked your ability to control anything inside the room.” He crossed his arms over his chest and backed away. “You’ll find clean bedding in the storage drawer in the wall, next to the end of the bunk. I expect the sheets to be changed when I get back, and for you to have also picked up the room.” He pointed out the laundry chute, the panel where he kept some cleaning supplies stored, and then smiled. “I’ll think up other tasks for you later today. Right now, I have things to do.”

  She just gaped at him, stunned.

  “I always wanted a cleaning android. Now I have one.”

  “Have you gone crazy?”

  “I’m angry. I’m tired of you Earthers thinking cyborgs are animated robots with gray flesh. I’m as sentient as you are. It’s irritating to be treated otherwise. You’ll learn. Get to work, droid.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You have to earn your food. That should motivate you to do as you’re told.” He spun, touched the panel by the door, and i